Gutierrez Picks Up Daley`s Backing For Congress

December 10, 1991|By John Kass.

There weren`t any balloons or other pleasing visuals, but Luis Gutierrez got what he wanted on Monday when Mayor Richard Daley formally endorsed the 26th Ward alderman`s candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gutierrez, who came into the Chicago City Council as an ally of the late Mayor Harold Washington, hopes to leave it with Daley`s help. He is trying to win the Democratic primary against a field that already includes one alderman, Richard Mell (33rd), a former alderman, Juan Soliz (25th), and Joseph Berrios, commissioner on the Cook County Board of (tax) Appeals.

The hopefuls are campaigning to be elected in the new 4th Congressional District drawn after the 1990 census with a Hispanic majority population.

When Daley was asked whom he would support in the campaign, the mayor said:

``Gutierrez. I`m with Luis. I think he`d be a good congressman.``

Daley`s brother, State Sen. John Daley (D-Chicago), has lent formal support to the Gutierrez campaign. And the Northwest Side alderman has also retained Daley political advisers on his staff.

Mell, who discussed his candidacy recently with Daley, said he would withdraw only if other Hispanic community leaders asked him to do so.

He filed petitions of candidacy on Monday, as did Soliz, Berrios and Gutierrez. If all the Hispanic candidates stay in the campaign, Mell, who has a strong track record among Hispanic voters, could win his party`s nomination. ``The only way I`d drop out is if Hispanic leaders, from City Treasurer Miriam Santos and State Sen. Miguel del Valle, asked me to, and they haven`t,`` Mell said.

Gutierrez said he was pleased to win Daley`s endorsement only a day after announcing his candidacy.

``It shows he`s committed to the campaign, and that helps,`` Gutierrez said.